The challenge facing neuroimagers is far more complex than mapping the Earth’s continents and oceans. It’s like trying to infer how human society does (and does not) work by studying a satellite image. Read more at OZY.

National Institutes of Health-funded scientists have developed a new diagnostic test for cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder currently affecting around 30,000 Americans. The new device provides a cheaper, easier way to detect levels of chloride in sweat, which are elevated in cystic fibrosis patients. A similar strategy could be applied to other diseases that present with elevated levels of different ions, such as bromide and iodide, and the simplicity of the approach could make diagnostic tests more accessible around the world.

A biocompatible and highly stretchable optical fiber has now been created from hydrogel -- an elastic, rubbery material composed mostly of water. The fiber, which is as bendable as a rope of licorice, may one day be implanted in the body to deliver therapeutic pulses of light or light up at the first sign of disease. Read more at MIT News.

Researchers have described in great detail how to fabricate and use transparent graphene neural electrode arrays in applications in electrophysiology, fluorescent microscopy, optical coherence tomography, and optogenetics. Read more at University of Wisconsin-Madison News.

Engineers funded by NIBIB have developed a small device, worn on the skin, that detects alcohol levels in perspiration and sends the information to the uses smart phone in just 8 minutes. It was designed as a convenient method for individuals to monitor their alcohol intake.

NIBIB-funded researchers at the University of Washington have pioneered an approach to image functional activity in the brains of individual fetuses, allowing a better look at how functional networks within the brain develop.

NIBIB grantee Vivek Shenoy, Ph.D., is among the University of Pennsylvania's biomedical and engineering scientists awarded $24 million by the National Science Foundation to establish a Science and Technology Center focused on engineering mechanobiology. The center will study the way cells exert and are influenced by the physical forces in their environment. Read more at PennNews.